Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
KAOS
I looked up as the door opened and found myself staring as a princess walked in.
She was tall, with long golden waves and a casual elegance, even in the way she took off her shoes and stepped into her slippers.
Who was she?
She smelled like home.
Like ours.
Mine.
My brain stirred in the fog, trying to remember. I stood, making my way over to her.
Was she real?
She stilled as I walked closer, and her scent sharpened my brain.
Laurel, that was her name.
And I…hated her.
Yes.
That was right.
I took another step until I was right in front of her and my mind returned to me fully.
This was the woman who had taken everything from me.
It was torture looking at her.
She wasn’t supposed to be ours, and everything about her seemed to be taunting me. Would our proper omega have cute little feet like that? Long hair? Large, beautiful eyes?
It didn’t matter.
It was her now.
She was our omega, just another curse I’d brought them.
I glared at her, and she broke away from my gaze.
We were here to free Ocean, and I had to stay present for that, even though my emotions burned too hot in my head. The buzzing in my veins was exhausting, and I wanted to lie down and return to that peaceful fog.
Finch was leaning against the kitchen counter, staring down at papers splayed out in front of him. He didn’t look up as he pointed at one of the barstools. It hurt looking at him. He’d leave soon, escaping from me. It was all right. I’d escape me, too, if I could.
She sat down, waiting quietly as Finch scribbled away. She didn’t even twitch as the minutes stretched on.
“So,” Finch said eventually, still not looking up. “Report. Has my cover been arranged?”
“Yes,” she said. “Cover and IDs. You’ll need to send a picture, and they’ll get everything sorted.”
“Good job,” he said absently, and she twitched, seeming surprised. “Kaos, come here. Planning time.”
I ambled my way over, plopping down in the seat next to him. I held his eye deliberately, and he gave a slight nod, even as my heart raced and the buzzing in my veins increased until my head hurt and my eyes felt tight.
Panic attack, panic attack, I’m having a, panic attack, panic attack, duh duh duh, I sung in my head, tapping my finger on the counter to the heavy metal drumbeat as it replayed in my head over and over. The soundtrack of my life.
I was here.
It felt like hell, but I could do it.
For Ocean.
“So,” Finch started, leaning forward and straightening the papers on the counter. “Getting Ocean out.”
“I actually managed to get access to him today,” Laurel said. “I’ll be able to go in and visit him from now on.”
Finch looked surprised but hid it quickly.
Huh.
I guess with her unable to arrange for our murder, she’d decided that helping us was the fastest way to get rid of us.
“How did you do that?” he asked.
“I implied the Lucas pack wanted to start learning how to manage the Ring. That they wanted to manage Ocean to dip their toes in. I’ll be orienting them to the process, which will give me time to visit and manage Ocean’s care.”
“With the Lucas pack?” I asked. This seemed less than ideal. Those bastards would make Ocean’s life more of a living hell than it already would be.
“They don’t know yet. I’ll have a bit of time before I have to tell them, and I’ll offer to do most of the work for them.”
Finch nodded, his approval showing on his face and making her cheeks flush a bit. I ground my teeth. Involving them at all wasn’t a good idea. My headache was getting worse and my chest felt tight.
“Excellent. In the case this takes longer than I planned for, we’ll need to try and keep Ocean stable,” he said. “The new plan is simple—we’ll buy Ocean. Laurel, I understand your father makes trades like that?”
Excuse me. Buy him?
I checked in with myself again, making sure I was interpreting the words right.
Laurel nodded, frowning. “Yes, but not with people he doesn’t know. Even if they are backed up by billionaires.”
“I understand,” Finch said. “I was planning to target the Lucas pack. They’re new but close to Thaddeus. Prince is set to take his place in the inner circle, and from what we know, Thaddeus will be training them to take over from him. Is this correct?”
“Yes,” she said.
This plan was getting worse and worse. Now he had to worm his way into the Lucas pack’s circle?
“I’ll approach them. Frame it as a matter between us. You’ve made it a lot easier by placing Ocean under their care. I may even be able to make the trade with them directly. Laurel, do you know how much the alphas in the Ring are worth?”
She shook her head.
“So, we’ll have to get that information. Make sure we have enough money.”
What money was he talking about? Was he planning to pull it out of his ass?
“Where would that information be?” Finch asked.
“My father’s office,” she said. “On his computer. I don’t ever see any files in there.”
“It’s likely to be highly protected,” Finch said. “Kaos, come up with a few options of how to get those files. Anything else we can get as well. Once you’re ready, Laurel, you’ll go and place the equipment.”
“Me?” she asked, her face going pale.
Great. Another part of the plan with too many risks. And that would take valuable time.
“Yes. You are the least likely to draw suspicion,” Finch said. “In the meantime, we need to increase our surveillance and access to the security systems here. Kaos will work on plans for how to do that. Laurel has provided us with what she knows of the systems so far.”
I chewed on my cheek as I double-checked each suggestion he’d made and again came to the conclusion that it sucked.
It had been a while since I’d been so engaged, and I’d needed to be sure.
“Nope,” I said, causing everyone to look at me.
Panic attack, panic attack, duh duh duh—Laurel looked surprised, and Finch looked annoyed.
“No way. This plan is bullshit.”
Finch’s eyes narrowed as they met mine. I gritted my teeth, even as most of me wanted to shrink away.
“Hacking high-security computers?” I continued. “Getting hundreds of thousands of dollars? Tricking the Lucas pack? Nonono. No. We need to do a jailbreak. One night, security shut down, brute force, distraction. In and out.”
I was breathing heavily, gripping the counter. He needed to listen to me. There was no way he hadn’t considered that option.
“Laurel, leave us. Don’t try to eavesdrop,” Finch commanded.
Laurel huffed and stood, glaring at us before stalking to her workshop and slamming the door.
“You know why we can’t just break him out,” Finch said, his voice infuriatingly level.
“I do?” I asked, surprised. I sifted through my recent memories. “No, actually I don’t.”
“It would burn every bridge we have into this place,” Finch snapped. “It would ruin our chance to take them all down.”
Ruin our chance? I gaped at him for a moment.
“What the fuck?!” I shouted, and Finch flinched. “Who cares about taking them down? We need to get Ocean out!”
“We can have both,” he insisted. “Freeing Ocean and getting revenge. We have to deliver justice, because no one else will. Redeem our pack’s name.”
He looked up and met my eyes, and I was surprised to see he actually looked conflicted. His eyes, normally so cold and hard, were filled with pain, and he sighed, shoulders slumping.
This was maybe the most emotional conversation I’d ever had with him.
“Why did you pack up with me?” I asked, my voice no more than a whisper. “I never understood why, after everything, you’d want to take on my shame.”
I was a screwup. A mistake. The child of a gold pack omega, a criminal and rut fighter. Yet, when I’d found myself home, Finch and Ocean had stepped in to claim me. They’d stayed by me and cared for me and slowly worked to redeem us. Redeem me.
“You’re my responsibility,” Finch said after a pause. “If I had been better when you were younger… set a proper example, you wouldn’t have gotten so lost. When you vanished, I thought I’d lost my chance to make things right. I couldn’t lose it again when you came back.”
I swallowed, feeling like I wanted to shrink into the ground.
“I’ll fix this, Kaos. We save Ocean, and we get evidence that all of them are involved in human trafficking.
Maybe more, once we get access to their computers.
If we don’t manage to kill them, the police won’t be able to ignore that much hard evidence.
They’ll face justice. We’ll have proof you were coerced into this. ”
Right.
We were getting revenge for me.
Atoning for my shame.
It was all my fault, again, that we had to make this so complicated.
“If anything goes wrong with my plan, anything at all, we’ll fall back on the jailbreak,” Finch said. “We’ll have it ready to go at any time, so we can cut and run if we need to.”
I considered it, looking at the pain in my packmate’s eyes, feeling the guilt that he wasn’t entirely hiding in the bond.
“What if he wants out now?” I asked.
“Ocean made his choice when he stepped into the casino.”
“He’s fighting in the Sink now, Finch! That changes everything. It changes people. He needs to make this call.”
“All right,” Finch said. “But let me think of a way to do this properly. Laurel is our only way to get him a message, and I don’t want to tell her more than we need to.”
“She might not be our only way,” I said, the rusty cogs of my mind kicking into gear as I started to think of a plan.